Should we petition DC that the improvements to PK which took place to convert it to the XBox, be released as a patch for PK to improve it?

Having seen PK on the XBox in the previous news post, and being aware that a large amount of work has gone into improving and optimising the game to be able to run so slicky on this platform, should we ask whether the PC version is updated? It would be interesting to know whether netcode improvements occured too.

As posted over at the DC PK XBox forums, Jook of Bleeze.net has uploaded a video for us to see how Painkiller performs on a console. The video features: Jo0k (POV) vs. NsN JA1LB1RD

Obviously the XBox version comes without any of the Mods we are used to.

You can grab it for yourself and see what you think, here: http://files.filefront.com/BleezynetPKXInaugural1v1Dwmv/;5517683;;/fileinfo.html

Mason Gaming has announced another ‘Fun Cup’ for PK using the PK++ mod.[q]Next Painkiller PK++ Funcup is at 03.12.2006.
We play Double Elimination bo3 again.
There will be no bracket problems ! so we can run the cup without any complications. You have to Sign up twice. 1. between 14.11.2006 and 02.12.2005.
2. @ 03.12.2006 between 15:00 and 17:30CET
We start at 18:00CET. For Signup pm mason“ in #pk.1on1 irc Quakenet. #pk.1on1 is this time the official Cup Channel so please perform this Channel and stay there [/q]You can read more about it on http://www.mason-gaming.de/

After work on PK++ draw to a close, I have ended up with various small requests for tweaks and new features. Also there are some mods which struggle with various aspects of what PK++ has already done. It would be good to see someone take on further development of PK++ to improve it yet further. It *may* even be possible to improve the netcode slightly from it, and is certainly possible to fix the demo code. I can give pointers to thoughts I had during PK++ on this but ran out of time to fix.

But who will take on the torch?

If you wish to work on PK++, please abide by the licensing, and if you wish to work on it openly through Sourceforge, this can be arranged… just drop me an email at kerberos99@hotmail.com or talk with me Blowfish on quakenet irc.

You can find the source code release, HERE.

Okay this is not strictly news, but in the absence of news, it is worth strengthening the community by sharing views and discussing… so here goes:

As we take a retrospective look back on Painkiller, the CPL, what was and what wasnt good about Quake 4 and all the other hopefulls, it is worth looking again at Painkiller with the benefit of hindsight.

I would suggest if Painkiller had come out after Doom3 and after Quake4, it would have been much more successful.

I would also suggest that the two things wrong with Painkiller are simply that the netcode was never finished, and that the stake gun and gameplay isnt great for FFA. If you look at the big games out there, they all have good accessible FFA in common. CS, for example, is all about immediately accessible FFA. In PK meanwhile, the skill level means the game can be frustrating for newcomers.

But what does everyone else think? What is good about Painkiller, and what is bad about it? In playing for money, did most players forget to play it for fun?